A few weeks back, for no reason but avoiding work, I assembled a list of the 100 best albums of the '90s. Okay, maybe not the best, but my favorites anyway, the ones that I seem to have listened to most obsessively over the years. In an effort to avoid more work, I will now share the list with you.
I limited myself to one album per artist (although Medeski Martin + Wood kind of slipped in there twice through a loophole), and I allowed myself only studio albums, nothing live and no compilations (the exception there being The Beta Band's Three E.P.'s). For each year, I have bolded my top choice, though in many cases it was a very close call.
1990
- Question and Answer, Pat Metheny w/Dave Holland & Roy Haynes
- Missing ... Presumed Having a Good Time, The Notting Hillbillies
- Fear of a Black Planet, Public Enemy
- The Rhythm of the Saints, Paul Simon
- Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, The Sundays
1991
- Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos
- Travelers & Thieves, Blues Traveler
- Laughter & Lust, Joe Jackson
- Mental Jewelry, Live
- Ten, Pearl Jam
- Roll the Bones, Rush
- Pocket Full of Kryptonite, Spin Doctors
- Achtung Baby, U2
1992
- 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of..., Arrested Development
- Gordon, Barenaked Ladies
- Return of the Brecker Brothers, The Brecker Brothers
- Black Eyed Man, Cowboy Junkies
- Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy
- Automatic for the People, R.E.M.
- 99.9 F°, Suzanne Vega
1993
- Kamakiriad, Donald Fagen
- Love & Liberté, Gipsy Kings
- Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, Sarah McLachlan
- Siamese Dream, The Smashing Pumpkins
- Ten Summoner's Tales, Sting
- Elemental, Tears for Fears
1994
- The Sweetest Illusion, Basia
- 11 Tracks of Whack, Walter Becker
- Boingo
- Grace, Jeff Buckley
- She, Harry Connick, Jr.
- Dis Is da Drum, Herbie Hancock
- Under the Table and Dreaming, Dave Matthews Band
- Dummy, Portishead
- MoodSwing, Joshua Redman Quartet
- Ruby Vroom, Soul Coughing
- Home, Spearhead
- Chocolate & Cheese, Ween
- Sleeps with Angels, Neil Young & Crazy Horse
1995
- Post, Björk
- Friday Afternoon in the Universe, Medeski Martin + Wood
- Tragic Kingdom, No Doubt
- Hello, Poe
- 311
- Secaucus, The Wrens
1996
- Odelay, Beck
- If You're Feeling Sinister, Belle and Sebastian
- Fashion Nugget, Cake
- Unchained, Johnny Cash
- This Fire, Paula Cole
- A Few Small Repairs, Shawn Colvin
- Walking Wounded, Everything but the Girl
- We the People, Groove Collective
- Mic City Sons, Heatmiser
- Colossal Head, Los Lobos
- Fever In Fever Out, Luscious Jackson
- Who Can You Trust?, Morcheeba
- Dusk at Cubist Castle, The Olivia Tremor Control
- Archaeology, The Rutles
- Duncan Sheik, Duncan Sheik
- Hot, Squirrel Nut Zippers
1997
- Earthling, David Bowie
- Cheap Trick [1997]
- Let Us Play!, Coldcut
- When I Was Born for the 7th Time, Cornershop
- Whatever and Ever Amen, Ben Folds Five
- Yeah, It's That Easy, G. Love and Special Sauce
- Marcy Playground
- You Will Go to the Moon, Moxy Früvous
- Happy End of the World, Pizzicato Five
- OK Computer, Radiohead
- Dig Me Out, Sleater-Kinney
1998
- Moon Safari, Air
- The Way We Were, Babe the Blue Ox
- Hello Nasty, Beastie Boys
- Fantasma, Cornelius
- Painted from Memory, Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach
- You've Come a Long Way, Baby, Fatboy Slim
- 4-Sight
- Mini-King [unreleased]
- Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too, New Radicals
- Aquemini, OutKast
- A Go Go, John Scofield (w/Medeski Martin + Wood)
- XO, Elliott Smith
- Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Lucinda Williams
1999
- When the Pawn..., Fiona Apple
- The Three E.P.'s, The Beta Band*
- Stereo Type A, Cibo Matto
- Emergency & I, The Dismemberment Plan
- The Slim Shady LP, Eminem
- Utopia Parkway, Fountains of Wayne
- Liquid Skin, Gomez
- On How Life Is, Macy Gray
- Next Move, Hue and Cry
- Bachelor No. 2; or, The Last Remains of the Dodo, Aimee Mann
- Play, Moby
- The Time Machine, Alan Parsons
- Californication, Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Summer Teeth, Wilco
- Apple Venus Volume 1, XTC
[One album there that deserves further explanation is 1998's Mini-King, which is an album that as far as I know existed only in advance promo form. It was to be released by N2K Encoded Music, the record label of a company I used to work for, but as far as I know was never released. (The company folded.) That was a big shame, because Mini-King had a lot of talent, not to mention an ultra-sexy (male) lead singer. People would say, "What does Mini-King sound like," and I would say, "Spandau Ballet," and my boss would say, "Don't say that! They'll tank if you say that!" Well, I guess they worse than tanked.]
So, can I be a talking head on VH1 now? Huh? Huh? Do I qualify?
